a serious interjection: on persistence

I was entering mile 9 of my 12th for the day and I wasn't going to make it. The sparkling water and pile of raw carrots and peanut butter I had downed two hours before just wasn't a good idea. My legs were a heavy mess. As I ran, feeling every single painful stroke, I was bribing myself to finish. This was proving to be one of the hardest long runs I had ever tackled and it certainly didn't help that the last two miles of this run were more or less solid hill - uphill.

I turned the corner and two fit older women looked up at me. One of the women said to the other, "Doesn't she have the most beautiful running gait?"

And I was transformed. 

In that moment and with those words I was reminded that after a certain mileage, running is 90% mental. With her words behind me, my attitude shifted and I pushed on. 

As I ran I remembered how that in college, when I first became active, my runs were slow and clunky and red-faced. I have worked hard - pushed myself to the limit - to be able to walk out the door and clock 12 miles on a Monday afternoon. I was finishing this run and not even a stomach full of raw carrots and tired legs could stop me.

And with these women's kind words in my my mind I finished. The hills were still hard and my stomach was still wonky, but I changed my attitude - and it made all the difference.

A Serious Interjection: Just keep going.

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Previous serious interjections:
on perfection 
on disappointment